2010

I have to say that 2010 has been a bit of an up and down year for me. Obviously there have been some great highs- James and I brought our first home together, I finished my degree, I got a proper job; these are all good and exciting things. Yet amid all of this I have struggled with unemployment for a time, I mostly hated the last semester of my degree and I have over stressed and worried about just about every decision that I’ve made. Grown up life is scary. And after writing that it sounds to me like it was the process of this year that I have struggled with whilst I enjoyed the outcomes, which is possibly a good description.

All over the blog sphere there are plenty of inspirational posts from amazing women who are reveling in the goals which they achieved in 2010 and setting themselves new ones for 2011. This is a laudable process and I truly, truly admire people who have the self discipline and will to make these things happen for themselves on their own. I am not that girl. I struggle with motivation and general all round laziness. I need a good kick up the butt from our old friend motivation to get me doing things.

Thus I have decided to make myself small goals. Achievable goals. But goals which I think will be beneficial to me none the less. Goals where I will have help getting there. A hand to hold on my way. I am guilty of not taking the time to care enough for myself, I get too wrapped up in working, stressing and letting tiredness overcome me, so my goals are designed to help me overcome these traits.

With this in mind my aims for 2011 are centered round the idea of happiness. I want to be happier. Less worried and more accepting of ‘what will be will be’. Not complacent. But to get a greater appreciation of the idea that there are things in this world which I cannot change and that worrying about them will not help. To be generally more at peace with the world.


Photo Credit

So without further ado in 2011....

1. I want to take the time to nurture my artistic side. I love drawing, taking photos and creating things. But this often takes a back seat. I want this to change for me and spend more time making myself happier by letting myself feel free to do this sort of thing.
2. I want to create myself some ‘downtime’ one evening a week. Some time just to relax and not worry about achieving anything.
3. I want to drink more water and exercise more.
4. I want to create myself a regular posting schedule on this blog and be more disciplined in my writing.

There we go. No where near as far reaching as some of the goals I have seen people try to attempt, but these are goals which I really think will help me be happier and more focused in 2011.

I hope everyone has a relaxing and safe New Years Celebration planned. As I am working tomorrow I don’t think James and I will get much further than a bottle of wine and some time on the sofa, but still, sometimes those evenings are the best!

Its been a pleasure to write for you in 2010 and I look forward to continuing this conversation in 2011.

Stay safe, Lindy xxxx

Bath time...

Apologies for my absence over the last few days. Christmas and then going back to work have monopolised my time pretty effectively. Stupidly I have volunteered to do a double shift this Saturday, so I'm working 1000- 1830 during the day and then 2200-600 in the morning over night!

In order to put a buffer up against this particular brand of insanity I'm off to have a nice relaxing bath with some of my new spa bath things (a thoughtful Christmas present), a favourite book and a specially made playlist.

Bliss.

Happy Wednesday my friends

Lindy xxx

7 Good Things Vol 5

Well I seem to be able to write about two posts a weeks at the moment. I'm going to try and aim for three in the new year, but I have so much to do between now and Christmas, that is a bit more of a long term plan!

So without no further ado, here are my 7 Good Things for this, and considering that it's Christmas week I have a little theme going on here.

1. Snow, snow, snow! I can't be the only person fervently hoping for a white Christmas can I? These pictures were taken on my way to work this morning. I quite like the blurry effect, and thus I'm going to pretend that it was a deliberate artistic choice designed to demonstrate movement in the landscape and the seasons. Yup. It takes an art GCSE to teach you how to write that kind of crap!



2. An abundance of Christmas puddings. Both my Mum and James' Nan have made us home made Christmas puddings this year which makes me very happy, as I love the stuff with a passion.



3. Fairy lights. So so pretty.



4. Christmas trees (see above!) And yes I hear you say, but Lindy you are yet to put an angel on the top and what is this, you haven't wrapped any presents to go underneath either? To which I can only reply that I haven't had a day off since the 5th of December so my mottos this Christmas go somewhat along the lines of, 'if it doesn't come from Amazon, you ain't getting it' and 'blerrg I have no time and need some more sleep!'


5. Christmas music playing in my office. Makes my day go a lot lot faster.



6. See this post. My heart has been ripped out by the generousity of people. I think Jenny and the commentators have given away nearly $20000. I could cry. In fact I did.



7. James' volunteering to do all the Christmas dinner cooking. Although this might have something to do with my inability to cook anything with out burning it, ruining it and generally making a once edible food stuff inedible, I am still incredibly grateful. A relaxing Christmas day is in my future (I sincerely hope).

Happy Christmas week!

Love Lindy xxxx

Christmas Spirit

Hi guys.

If you want to be simultaneously heartbroken, gladdened, saddened, angered by the injustice in the world and have your faith in the ultimate goodness of humanity restored please go and read this post and ensuing comments by the incomparable Jenny at The Bloggess.

I think what struck me most when I was done crying my eyes out (on a train no less) was the amount of people who were struggling because of medical bills or lack of medical insurance. Living in a country with universal healthcare has made me complacent when it comes to the great gift which Clement Attlee's government gave me in 1946. Complacency is dangerous, and reading all of those stories in the comments has made me far more grateful for what I do have this Christmas season.

I thought back to what one of my Sixth Form philosophy teachers once told me. We were debating in class about the problem of evil, and one of my clearest memories is him calling me naive for believing that people were inherently good. I thought that the majority of people operated from the belief that they are doing 'good' (whatever it may be that they define as 'good'), and it is this act of striving for goodness which fuels most of what humanity does and aims for. (No matter how obscured these aims can become with other trivial matters such as materialism etc...) My teacher through this was an incredibly naive perspective and lambasted me as such.

I have thought about this difference in perspectives many times since that day. The fundamental difference that there is in thinking that we are born good and strive to fulfil this intrinsic aspect of our nature and believing that we are born with the taint of evil upon us and that we spend a lifetime struggling against this to achieve good against the odds.

Across the years I have been confronted with the unjustness and pain of the world, and the anger which comes from knowing that most of this pain is unnecessary and man made. I have oscillated between what I believed at 16 and what my teacher told me was the true nature of humanity.

But this little corner of the web has made me look at things afresh. Thank you Jenny, today I am returning to me at 16.

Love Lindy xxx

Geekery

I think the words are bad, bad Lindy.

And I had been so good at posting 7 good things on a Monday as well. Then something had to come and ruin it. But kind, generous and understanding reader. This is not my fault. A man. A man has bewitched me with his words. With his anger. With his humour. And with his insight. Yet mostly I also blame my sister. She introduced me to this bewitching site. Made it rule my life for the last week. Made me forgo such things as getting enough sleep, making myself dinner, and even, yes even getting cups of tea. This site made me happy that my trains were delayed and cancelled so that I had more reading time. Made me happy to sit in the cold waiting for replacement bus services. It is this good.

My 7 good things this week all revolve around these two site:

Mark Reads

and

Mark Watches

Mark is an American writer who writes hilarious reviews of all the things I like. Like literally. The geeky fan girl in me has been having a party all week. Harry Potter? Big massive check. Firefly? Epic check. Mocking Twilight? He's there. Making the Hunger Games sound like the books I wanted them to be? He is all over this. Doctor Who? He will be as of next week!

And yes I'm sitting here in my hand knit Slytherin scarf as I write. Why do you ask?



Excuse me I have to go and geek out in the corner...

Lindy xxx

Imagine

Today is the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's death all the way back in 1980. In honour of this I though I would post some links to some of my favourite songs from him. Enjoy!




(The actual video is on Youtube, but is disabled for embedding. This is just such a good song, I couldn't resist.)


(Yes I know this is a McCartney led track, but i just couldn't leave it out!)



Truly one of the greats.

Happy Wednesday

Lindy xxx

7 Good Things Vol 3

After a beautifully relaxing weekend (mostly) off of work returning today was a bit of a jarr. But being so relaxed it doesn't take much to come up with 7 good things!

1. James, for making me laugh


2. Cups of tea for keeping me warm


3. My new shirt which was 90% off

4. New grey nail polish

5. A warm house to come home too


6. Finally having tidied up!


7. A Christmas poinsettia


Happy Monday my friends

Lindy xxxx

Saturday Steals- Vol 19

The last Saturday stealing opportunity of the year! How exciting! Being the thrifty kinda gal that I am it has warmed the cockles of my heart sharing all the great deals I have found with you this year.

And yes, I think I save the best till last!

This skirt.


I saw it in the staff reductions at work a while back- it was reduced to £3.60, a pretty good price for a skirt, but I just never got round to picking it up.

Then a few weeks later I saw this...



10p! How can I resist a skirt for 10p?!

I interrupt this post to point out that James decided to interrupt my photography session and colonise my time for a while. He also mucked around trying to cut my hair a little (and he succeeded) and put boot polish in my HAIR! I yelled, then chased him, then he chased me, and before we could get too Tom and Jerry the giggles over took me. Its really hard to win a fight when your laughing. But still. He put boot polish in my hair and this is an unforgivable crime! He must pay. Just not right now because he gave me a donut and some milkshake.



Back to the skirt. Sainsbury's were also having a 25% off stunt on clothing as well, so not only was the skirt 10p to begin with it was then reduced. Making this the grand total of 7p!

7p!

Defiantly my steal of the year. Now if only the temperature could make it out of the minus numbers and I could wear it!


Happy Saturday Stealing!

Lindy xxxx

Library Love

I think I may have mentioned before how much I love the library. In fact I love it so much, I even worked there for a short time and contemplated a career as a librarian. (I then concluded that those hallowed hall were not nearly so much fun when you weren't there to read the books, but hey, my love of the institution is unending.)

I love them so much that I braved the arctic snow conditions yesterday (hey I'm british, 3 cms of snow is a lot around these parts), and visited the library in the small town where I work. I had decided that the perfect antidote to staring at a computer all day was to have a little lunch time browsing, thus I went out in to the snow wearing heels. Yes, yes, your free to laugh at me too.

However, I did score some pretty dandy finds from a gentle browse of the shelves.

Number One: Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller.



I had read about this book somewhere before and the title jumped out at me and had stuck in my brain. I'm about two thirds of the way through this one now, and its quite an interesting read. I have an ongoing interest in religious philosophy and the forms that religious experience can take so I was immediately drawn to this book, which I suppose is best described as a memoir of religious feeling.

Number Two: Called out of Darkness by Anne Rice.



There is a bit of a religious theme developing here, but this is Anne Rice's description of how she left 30+ years of atheism and returned to the Catholicism of her childhood. I had read about her conversion else where and was interested to see how she reconciled this centuries old unbending faith with her modern (post modern?) attitude to the last thirty years of her life. Particularly with regards to the fact that her son was openly gay, not a life that the church would endorse. I actually finished this book yesterday. For a writer who is as good, and as experienced as Anne, I found some of the prose a little clunky, like she was trying to express her childhood in terms beyonds the means of words. Over all an interesting read but she seemed to dismiss recent church history and events, happy to live in a state oblivious to the recent developments within the church- concentrating wholly on the sensual and emotional experience of religion. A sentiment that the rational me found difficult to accept fully.

Number Three: The Emperor by Ryszard Kapuscinski



I picked this up mostly on a whim. I would seem to be a mix of memoir and history based on the fall of the Ethiopian government in 1974. This is an area which I know absolutely nothing about about so should be an formative experience to read when it comes to my knowledge of recent (well fairly) politics! I also thought it was slim so thus would be easy to carry to work!

Number Four:A Thousand Miles of Dreams by Sasha Su- Ling Welland



Again this is another random pick that I found whilst browsing. I was not after this book. I was however attracted by it title and the fact that the jacket describes it as a mix between a novel with a large dose of anthropology- my kind of book!


Number Five: Life in the Medieval Cloister by Julie Kerr



Continuing the theme of by interest in orthodox expressions of religion I picked up this one. I think it is a brief historical introduction. Most of which I (hope) I will already know as this formed a rather large study component of my degree, but, what can I say I was feeling nostalgic! The writing style looks to be clear and engaging and it will be nice to used those brain muscles once more!

All in all a pretty good haul! Things to keep me busy during the snow for the next few days!

I hope the snow isn't affecting your life to drastically, and people, drive slowly and safely!

Lindy xxx

I could be happy just living to learn...

Hello! Sorry for my un planned absence at the end of last week, things got a little on top of me (once more!) and unfortunately this blog is the one and only thing I can let slide.


Picture Credit here

I'm currently going through the process of applying to university to start again in September next year (eek!) and I had the joy of having to write a personal statement for this! A process which I detest, because I hate telling people why I'm so utterly amazing they would be wrong not to give me a place and lots of money! Hence this has taken me much longer than perhaps it would the average person, and has involved much more hand wringing. But, I have nearly finished and hopefully can submit my application this evening. Which means I shall be free from the stress of getting it done before the deadline, and can hopefully start looking forwards to planning our christmas.

My 7 Good Things this week are a little eclectic to say the least...

1. Pretty yarn, which helps me to make a present for a loved one
2. Simon and Garfunkel- Bridge over Troubled Water is just sublime and has been on repeat this week
3. James' hugs
4. Snow! I can't be the only adult who thinks this is a good thing all round
5. My beautiful new pendant from Paper Sparrow. (I won a giveaway on the blog A Beautiful Mess, which is amazing within it's self, and was privileged to receive some amazing art created by unique souls.)
6. Planned visits with friends this weekend
7. A hot cup of tea whilst it snows outside and the temperatures are below zero

Here's to hoping that I can get myself a bit more sorted in the next few days and can actually tell you lovely people about some of the things I want and plan to!

Hoping that your week will go serenely to plan

Lindy xxx

PS: for music I'm back to the genius of the Court Yard Hounds

PPS: yes I do sit on my iPad in my lunch break and write my blog, why do you ask!

Catching Fire and Mockingjay

Spoilers Ahead!!

I thought I would combine my reviews of the next two Hunger Games books in too one long hyper review. Otherwise I fear I would be at risk of repeating myself for what I have to say on these two!

Overall I felt that they were a pretty good extension of the first book in the series. A number of the questions which I had stemming from the first in the trilogy were answered and this can only be a good thing.

Catching Fire was a good bridging novel between the other two. I enjoyed the expanding vision and understanding that Katniss gained of her world, and the reader developed their understanding of this world along with her. As I’ve said before these novels are written in the first person so this means that by their very nature the reader is stymied by Katniss’ limitations as a character and I couldn’t help but feel that I waned to know more. More about the political system. More about the history of Panem. More, more, more. But perhaps I’m just greedy!

My problem with this series as a whole, one which was encapsulated in the third book, Mockingjay, was that it seems to have been set up as some sort of tragic love triangle a la Twilight, between Katniss, Peetra and Gale. Through out the entire series, however, I have felt that Gale was criminally underdeveloped and used as a character. By the time the novel was trying to create some romantic tension I thought that it was almost obvious that Katniss wouldn’t end up with him, as Gale’s relationship with Katniss, and Gale as a fully rounded character with complex motives just hadn’t been developed enough to make it a viable prospect.

I read these books quickly and the story gripped me. I wanted to know what happened to these characters and where their lives would lead. On that level I would heartily recommend them as casual reading. But for books which deal which such a difficult subject area as their main concept (children being forcibly taken to kill each other for other citizens enjoyment) I just didn’t feel that this issue was addressed comprehensively on a moral level at any point. In fact the books seem to purposefully avoid any sort of moral discussion, which is a pity as I feel that this would have really added to the depth of the novels. A characteristic which I felt was sorely lacking here.

Manic Monday

Today is what counts as a no good, horrible, defiantly bad day. I went back to work to be faced with the prospect of looming redundancies, which for those of us on temporary contracts can only be bad news. I managed to break my nice expensive headphones. I only got two hours sleep last night. This all adds up to a pretty nasty Monday.

Then I found this email in my inbox;

Every compliment, criticism, promotion, setback, good vibe, cough or really long line you have to wait in, Ros, is a gift that was meticulously designed to make possible your becoming more than who you were, and ultimately, happier than ever before, as we dance into forever.
We've only just begun -
    The Universe

Sometimes the Universe really does tell you exactly what you need to hear. I guess I just need to look beyond the bad and towards the good. I think I'm going to try and start counting 7 good things every week, one for every day. I begin today, as an attempt to let go of my self inflicted worries.

1. My newest cousin was born two days ago and he is gorgeous.
2. I have two jobs so if I loose my main one it is not the end of the world.
3. James loves me enough to take time out of his really busy day to spend it cheering me up and finding me alternate jobs to apply for.
4. I have a lovely warm brightly coloured hat to wear.
5. I have a cupboard full of tea.
6. My Dad and Sister came for dinner last night and we had a really good evening.
7. The sunrise was beautiful this morning.

What are the good things in your life?

Lindy xxx

(The above message ones from the TUTs Adventures Club, daily emails designed to make you feel better and think a little more. I love them, and would recommend them without hesitation)

PS: Music credit today goes to The Bangles

Delight

I'm back!

James and I had a wonderful week relaxing and chilling out. It was exactly what we needed; we have come back feeling refreshed and ready to go. Just what you want from a holiday. Now I just have a mountain of washing to do before I go back to work next week!

I have a couple of book reviews and some art projects coming up next week. I hope everyone has a relaxing weekend, I'm going to sort out some governors stuff whilst James makes a delicious smelling dinner!

Lindy xxx

(Music once again courtesy of the Courtyard Hounds)

Joy

This is where James is taking me this week! I couldn't quite contain my excitement and had to share! I will defiantly be without Internet for a week, so I shall see you all in a few days!

I hope everyone has a fantastic week, I know I shall be!

Much love, Lindy xxx

The Coast

James and I have just got back from an insanely relaxing week in Centerparcs. I am tempted to say that it is one of my favourite places to go on holiday, it is just so peaceful. It is possible that I like it so much because I spent a guilt free week sitting in front of a fire, in a forest, reading a book, chilling out. Pretty much heaven for me. I also got to go to a spa and have a full body massage. (If anyone ever offers you one of these, in a non dodgy manor, please accept!) I don't think I have been this relaxed for a very long time. Sometimes a holiday is a very much needed thing, work has the unfortunate habit of getting on top of me most days, and I needed a break.

Because I am uber lucky, James is taking me away again next week! To where I know not. He has been very good at keeping this a secret from me. It's a surprise trip for my birthday present, I don't think very excited really covers it from my end! I will be sure to update you all when I get back! Since I don't know where I'm going, I can't be sure if I'll have Internet access so things may be a little quiet over here for the next week or so.

Being as though I have an insatiable desire to know what happens in things, I have already finished the second book in the Hunger Games series, Catching Fire. I will post a review next week, safe to say I am now upset that the third one has not arrived yet!

I think I shall go an eat some of the Maison de Chocolate chocolates that James brought me for my birthday before going to bed- a pretty good way to round off a day, don't you think!

I hope everyone has a lovely week,

Much love

Lindy xxx

(Music this week comes from the new Courtyard Hounds album- it's excellent)

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games. It would seem that this book has received a lot of hype, most of which I seem to have been oblivious of. However, I have fancied reading it for a while as it struck me as interestingly more dystopian than most of what I may catorgarise as 'easy reading' texts. Thus when the dreaded question came round of what I wanted for my birthday (I can't be the only person who hates asking for things)I suggested this.

I should probably point out right now, that even though I am a girl, I don't realy like chick lit novels. I will go out of my way not to read about a woman who is struggling in her life, meets a perfect man and suddenly, with a few predictable hiccups all is resolved. So when I heard about this book; dystopian future, violence games, machievellian leaders, I thought perfect a little light holiday reading! Yes, I know I'm weird!

So I settle down, I start reading and three hours later, I look up and I've finished the book. It was addictive. That kind of addictive where you know that it isn't good for you, but you keep on reading. I thought it was written in an engaging style, the first person narrative could get a little annoying but over all, I though it was well structured. The pace was fast and the book felt well balanced between action and descriptive passages. The one point that I would make is that when a book is written in the first person it does kind of kill any tension that the author is trying to create about the uncertain future of the main protagonist!

This book is a lot like a box of chocolates. It's good when you begin, but then it's so addictive you keep on eating, way past whist is good for you, so once you've finished you feel more than a little sick. In fact it's so addictive that once finishing I ordered the next two books in the series just so I could find out what happened! My need to know was so great.

This book belongs firmly in the young adult genre, now there is nothing wrong with this, I am guilty as anyone as wanting a little easy reading from time to time, but for some reason this time I was left wanting more. As with many young adult novels, I felt that some of the characters were horrifically underdeveloped. I was left craving a fuller picture of this world, the why, why, why questions in my mind were just not answered and I really wish they had been. I am left hoping that the next two books in the series can fill in some of the gaps that I felt were left in the picture of the world presented in this one.

All in all, an addictive read, but thus far there are too many questions left unanswered. I can only hope that the next two books plug some of the gaps. I think what I really wanted was the concepts of this book transformed in to a fully fledged and developed 'adult' novel which I could really get my teeth in to.

2-4-6-8 ain't never to late

Today I thought I would explore the novelty of blogging on the road! I have this fancy pants iPad with mobile Internet (something that is yet to cease amazing me) so I thought I would actually use it for something other than Facebook! So here I am sitting at a junction to get on to the M25 so that I can go on holiday- it's my birthday today and James and I seem to have a little bit of a tradition going where by we go away near my birthday.

However, this being a Monday morning, and this being near London, one of the most congested cities in the world, I am in a queue of traffic. Because, of course Monday morning is the best time to try an do road works. Not at say 3 in the morning when no one actually wants to use the road. Fun fact for the day, there are around 30 million people living in the South East of England, a large proportion of which are currently trying to use this road. (To give them their due they are trying to do carriage way widening to 12 lanes, but then these road works have been going on for years, so maybe that excuse is starting to wear a little thin!) It's a wonder that anyone ever gets to work round here.

Next fun fact for the day, using your mobile phone whilst driving is illegal in England on the grounds that it say distracts you from the rather important task of driving which you are attempting to complete. As we have established I am currently on one of the busiest roads in the world, in one of the most congested areas. The traffic is heavy, there are road works getting in the way and the volume of traffic is great. You would think at this would be a perfect time for people to start obeying this law in the spirit of safety (did I mention that it was also tipping it down with rain?!) but no. A man just drove past me in his huge Audi smirking as he texted. I glared. He did not look guilty.

On to our last point for today's musings the local radio station is BBC Radio Beds, Herts and Bucks. Is it just me or does this sound like a sleazy club to anyone else?! I sniggered for quite a while after the jingle!

Happy Monday

Lindy xxx

Ps: music credit here goes to the Tom Robinson Band (and yes I listen to motorway songs whilst on one!)

Pps: I am yet to work out how to upload photos on my iPad so we might be reverting to text only for a while!

Young at Heart...

Here is a picture of me grinning inanely...



Apart from this photo showing you that I have recently gone from having long blond hair to having short red hair, there is another reason which I am this happy.

Maybe this photo gives a better clue...



A little while ago I won a prize from the lovely Camille over at Archive of Our Lives, since I had never won a giveaway before I was ridiculously excited, and today it arrived! My very own handmade hair clip. I did the dance of joy. (And a bonus point to anyone who recognises that reference!)

Off of this delightful little gift I have come up with a new plan for world peace. Now I was very happy and over excited when my hair clip arrived, and it got me to thinking- if every one was this happy all at the same time, what would the cumulative effect of that amount of joy be? It would have serious world changing power. Wars would stop. Peace would reign, and cake would be free to all. Just simply by the happiness created by a hair clip. *Obviously* the next logical step would be to give everyone a hair clip I thought. This is simple. Why have I not been consulted before on the intricacies of the Middle East peace process? Or given free reign in Africa? Taken over Northern Ireland? Centuries of conflict would come to an end with the simple gift of a hair clip.

Its entirely possible, I thought, that I should be in charge. At the very least everyone would have snazzy, accessorised hair. Hey Camille, fancy revolutionising the world with hair clips?

Lindy xxx

EDIT: You can tell how tired was when I published this, as I totally forgot to give it a title. All credit here to The Bluebells and a slap on the wrist and an earlier bed time for me!

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit...

Somedays 6 am is the most unforgiving time in my day. The mornings are cold, dark and grey now. The darkness is oppressive to me. It traps me in a quiet stasis, awaiting the arrival of the day and the ensuing noise and light.

Sometimes 6am is the quiet moaning of a world not quite ready to face the day. A time which belongs only to farmers, and monks saying Vigils, each worshiping the unforgiving world in their separate but ultimately equal ways.

Some mornings 6 am mocks me, taunting me with my longings for a warm bed and a soft embrace. Forcing reality upon my world, forcing my dreams to flee to the corners of my vision.

And sometimes, at 6am, the universe throws me a bone.







It welcomes the day with a display so brilliant it can bring you to your knees. Your heart soars. You know in this moment that the un relentless, un stoppable universe has shown you a corner of perfection.

And you cry because beauty this vast and this fleeting is beyond you. The eyes and the mind and the heart can only grasp at a scrap of this wonder.

Then as quickly as it came, the universe takes it away from you. Night has handed over the reigns to day and life continues. But a small part of your heart is forever changed by being graced with such beauty upon it.

The universe forgets, but you cannot.

(Psalm 51:17)

29 Jobs and a Million Lies

If there was a prize for having read an awful lot of books, then I would most certainly be in the running for it. Unfortunately there aren't many jobs in the current market that call for having read a ridiculous number of novels, but never mind.



The last book that I read was a free ebook which I downloaded on to my iPad. Now you either get lucky when downloading free ebooks and get some thing that you really should have paid for, or you realise why it was free in the first place. Luckily this one falls in to the former, rather than the latter category.

In a nutshell this book is a travel through the numerous jobs (29 funnily enough) that the author has had. Everything from para legal secretary to moon lighting writing scripts for porno movies. Its an interesting career path to say the least. I think I enjoyed this book because I an relate to it pretty easily; in the last few years I've had no less than 7 different jobs and I'm still searching for what I want to do as a career long term. I think I admire this woman for aiming for what she wanted the consequences of it be damned. As with many of us what she wanted didn't necessarily correlate to what she needed, but still she tried. And that is an admirable quality- fearlessness. I know in my own career path I am far more likely to choose the secure path rather than the interesting one. I don't have the kind of gumption in my personally to say, I'm going to do this, because I want to do this and consequences be damned.

The book is well written engaging and well structured. As it seems with all ebooks there are few formatting problem- blank pages and the like, but it didn't detract from the over all picture. I would recommend downloading this book. It's a short and easy read, I read it over two days worth of train journeys on my way to work and back. Don't expect prose to the standard of Leo Tolstoy but rather accept this book as an interesting diversion into one womans life and her extraordinarily brave and varied approach to the time old question- what do you want to be when you grow up?

Year of the Cat

I spent about a million hours (well okay one) trying to take a decent photo of my cat the other week. Its safe to say that I didn't succeed all that well. She is both fast and nimble. And according to these photos has a permanently guilty look on her tiny face. A difficult combination to capture well.











I generally seem to take landscape photos so if anyone has any advice when it comes to photographing animals or people I'd be very grateful.

Wish me luck, I have no inkling that I'm going to give up on this anytime soon!

Happy Thursday

Lindy xxx

(Song credit to Al Stewart on this one)

Is this the sound of sweet surrender...

James and I went for a sweet little walk this afternoon. We didn't go very far, just out around Melton, which is a little village near to the town where I work, about half an hours drive away. But it was so worth it. Sometimes I think the most beautiful places are the ones which you see often and take some what for granted.



If I had a million pounds- this would be where I would live.







I love the smokiness of this one.







All credit to the wonderfully talented James here.







This feels a bit like a still from one of those old fashioned horror movies to me.

(The title of this post comes from the new Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow song which came out earlier in the week. The 10 year old girl inside of me just squealed!)

Have a happy and peaceful Saturday my friends.

Lindy xxxx

Today

Today I took this photo at 6:26 in the morning.



It never ceases to amaze me that it is now a regular occurrence in my life to be showered and fully dressed eating cereal at this time in the day.

I walked back through my door at 19:20 this evening, thanks to some delays on my trains.

Tiredness thy name is Lindy.


xxxx

6:30

6:30 in the morning has some advantages...









But this is about it!

Happy Friday xxxx